This application claims the priority of Swiss patent application No. 2524/98, filed Dec. 21, 1998, the disclosure of which is enclosed herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Technical Field
The present invention concerns a tampon that is in particular suitable for being used in water, i.e. for bathing or swimming, and that reduces or even fully eliminates the thereby existing danger of infection.
2. Background Art
The imbuing and impregnating of tampons with liquid paraffins and other substances in order to improve the slippage of the tampon and therewith to improve its applicability or to prevent the penetration of water into the vagina upon bathing are known (see e.g. AT 000 654 U1).
From DE-PS 19 25 086, DE-OS 20 24 930 and DE-OS 15 41 275 it is also already known to imbue tampons with e.g. mineral oil as carrier of a drug, or with an aqueous biological therapeutical solution, in order to introduce the pharmaceutical in the exactly desired amount and concentration into the interior of the vagina. U.S. Pat. No. 5,641,503 discloses a tampon comprising a fatty acid ester preventing the toxin production by staphylococcus aureus.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,902,493 a tampon is described comprising a foam corpus and an overwrap. The overwrap can be impregnated with a therapeucically active agent and a binding lubricant.
It is also already known that the penetration of water into the vagina can cause infections. The goal of the present invention therefore was to not only reduce the penetration of water but to simultaneously prevent or at least significantly reduce the generation of sources of infection by the never completely avoidable contact with water.